Recruiting the Mentally Deficient Men of Project 100 Thousand

It was a federal crime to admit a category five man into the army, but many of the recruiters used a loophole that allowed them to do it anyway. A lot of men from the bottom of the barrel were accepted administratively just so that induction centers could ramp up the number of draftees for viet nam. This was a crime against the mentally disabled. The young men of project 100 thousand couldn't read. They had to be taught to tie their boots. Most of them went straight into combat, where the learning curve is steep and deadly. These almost helpless young men died in action in the jungles at a rate three times higher than the average drafty. By